Minister: Russian football 's return to spring-autumn format possible only after World Cup

KAZAN, July 27./TASS/. Discussion on the return of the Russian football championship to the ‘spring-autumn’ format is possible only after the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said on Monday.

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"We will discuss this issue only after the world cup," he said in reply to a TASS query.

Up to and including 2010, the Russian football championships had been held in the ‘spring-autumn’ format. Then the Russian Football Union reformed the system of the tournament, and the 20th Russian championship started in the spring of 2011, was held in three rounds ending in the spring of 2012. In summer 2012 a new tournament began on the ‘autumn-spring’ system, which is used up till now.